It is “morally unconscionable” for the fossil fuel industry, and the politicians who carry their water in Congress, to stand in the way of action on climate change, says Climate Progress blogger Joe Romm. A Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and former US Department of Energy official, Romm says California voters have an opportunity this November to defeat the forces seeking to delay action on climate change by rejecting an attack on AB 32. “There isn’t anything more important Californians can do than kill Proposition 23 by as large a margin as possible to send a message. Anybody who wants to save the climate in this country, who wants to pass legislation, is going to have to transform politics in this country so that there is a political cost to trying to destroy the climate.” Confronted by such a grave threat, we need to act now, he says. Which means we can’t wait for technologies yet to be invented. More R&D funding for clean energy would be wonderful, he says, but “We need to deploy every last piece of low-carbon technology we have today if we’re to give the next generation a fighting chance.”

This program was recorded in front of a live audience in San Francisco at The Commonwealth Club on July 19, 2010.